Learning the Law Behind the Fences

A brief musing of an all too real scenario in Prison.

Hello, Readers.
As before and so again, I'm Jayel. I'm a neurodivergent enby held in a men's prison in Northwest Florida, USA.

Like many of the people behind the miles of concertina wire surrounding us, I am learning in piecemeal fashion how to contest my conviction in the courts. Emphasis, piecemeal.

See, in prison, we have horribly limited access to resources. At this facility ('Blessington'), most of our research is done with a version of LexisNexis on optical media that was installed, but isn't getting the required updates to allow us to see recent court decisions like Erlinger v. United States, 602 U.S. 821 (2024).
Most of us who attend the coveted few slots for Law Library throughout the week are teaching ourselves how to make the system work, bit by bit, without any sources of guidance.

There's a guy here, we'll call him Dave (no relation to the bear in the TV ads), who tells me he is hopelessly lost in the Law Library forest when he tries to research something to help his case. I consider myself only marginally better than he, thankful for the help I received from someone who's been in prison for 20+ years and was happy to help someone who was willing to learn, rather than contest everything they hear.

Dave should consider his motivational source for learning: the courts have sentenced him to a pair of life sentences plus an additional quarter century.

Florida prisoners currently do not have parole opportunities, except under very specific circumstances. The few parole-eligible people have been in prison for over 40 years, from what I gathered.

That above tells you that Dave is an LWOP individual, one of a multitude who will cease to exist while retained behind these fences unless he learns enough law to fight his case, or someone outside the wires takes up his cause and fights for his freedom. He's warehoused in the carceral meat packing factory until he rots, because there is no parole for young men.

But, in that same vein, we have little to no resources for learning the law, for determining how to proceed. We have little to no access to people who can point us in the right direction. So little Dave feels like a lost bear in the woods, unaware of how to even Shepardize his references, or to understand what he's reading in a case to see if it's similar enough to his.

He's not the only one: I'm still deep in the forest on much of the law, as well.

In my mind, a course on how to conduct one's own legal research, on how to submit a 3.850 Motion for Postconviction Relief, on proper court procedures would be beneficial and welcomed on so many levels.

To be educated on the laws is to increase the understanding of the laws. To comprehend the laws, I would reason, lowers the conflict points with said laws. After all, if you know the process that you can use to petition lawmakers to change laws or rules, you have an opportunity to directly influence your locale. If you understand the basis of a law, you can reasonably take steps to avoid breaking the law.

So as I sit here, pondering and pounding liquids, I think again on the missed potential. How does one abide by the laws if one does not know or understand the laws?

Not all of it is criminal law: what about civil laws, ordinances, and other population action controls?
For instance, two people are talking, and one brings up the subject of an ADU, or Accessory Dwelling Unit, talking about staying in one once their sentence (their "bid") is finished. Being able to look up the laws and ordinances of the city one might stay in upon release, one can find out if these units are legal in their area, whether they could be penalized for living in one separate from the main residence if an altercation happened elsewhere on the property while they are on probation, what the costs for their construction could average, and so on.

The takeaway is important:

What does society want the justice-impacted individual to take away from prison at the conclusion of their sentence?
I would hope that a better understanding of the law, of how laws work, and where the voice of the People can be heard when a law is unfair or unjust would be a desired outcome.
Why not make those lessons available here in prison, and maybe remove the revolving doors while we're at it?
An educated society is a better society, as far as I can tell.

But what do I know?
I just wear blue here. :)